Little Norman hid among the rugged rocks and looked at the starry sky above his head.
A sulfur-smelling cold wind hit him, and he couldn't help but move his buttocks, which were frozen by the stones.
Little Norman turned his head and whispered to the shadow under another rock: "Master Charles, how did the Machine Tribe appear?"
An old voice rang out: "Their huge starship broke through the void outside the Ashan star and landed directly on the Elven King's capital of Irollan. The entire royal city was crushed into powder and was destroyed by the explosion dust set off when it landed.
The villages and towns surrounding the royal city.”
"Lord Charles, how did the devil from the Bucks Principality appear?"
Old Charles poked his head out from the shadows. He held the Holy Book of Elrath to his chest, frowned and lowered his voice: "Didn't I tell you many times, demons came out of hell and conquered the city?"
The underground city of the Greenham dwarves, then rushed to the surface and went south to destroy the Buck Principality."
Little Norman nodded slightly and said in a childish voice: "Thank you, Lord Charles." Then he continued to lie on the cold rock, swaying on his toes and looking at the night sky.
Norman is a child born after the Broken Star War broke out. He is only nine years old now.
Ever since he could remember, he had been taken by Pastor Charles and wandered the broken land of the Bucks Principality.
They visited many settlements of survivors. Charles would often use light spells to treat the injuries of those survivors. Together, they hid under the eyes of the devil and struggled to survive.
However, once the settlement was discovered, they had to flee.
This time, it's the same.
Little Norman was tired of the life of escape. He hoped to have a place where he would never be discovered by the devil, where he could listen to the wonderful stories told by Pastor Charles.
Charles is a weirdo who always carries a heavy Elrath Bible with him during his difficult escape life.
People always say that priests are powerful, but that only applies to priests in the Imperial Crusaders or city churches. Charles is just a priest in a rural church in the Bucks Principality. His magic level is only level three and he can only cast some basic light spells.
However, although Charles's magic level is not high, he possesses profound knowledge.
Little Norman has been running around since he was born, living a life worse than a beggar, but he learned about half of the world from Charles's mouth.
"Lord Charles," little Norman spoke again, causing the old priest to have a headache, "will you tell me the story of Emperor Ivan again?"
Among those bizarre stories, the one that little Norman liked to hear the most was the story of Ivan, the Grand Duke of the Griffin, who fought on the battlefield and established the Griffin Empire.
It seemed as if if I listened to it again, those annoying demons at the foot of the mountain would be beheaded by the gryphon knights descending from the sky.
Charles sighed heavily.
Ivan's story was the one he least wanted to mention.
Survivors in occupied areas are not qualified to fantasize, and indulging in false fantasies will only hasten death.
But since escaping from the camp, he has no food to satisfy little Norman's hungry belly, so he can only satisfy his mind with stories.
"At the beginning of the era, it was Ronan who unified the major primitive human kingdoms and established the Falcon Empire. It was prophesied that the falcon's emperor's blood would spread to the end of the world."
"But during the Fourth Lunar Eclipse War, hell sent succubus assassins to take advantage of the chaos and massacre the Falcon Royal Family. The friendship between Grand Duke Ivan of the Griffin and Queen Maeve of the Falcon is known to the world. He personally led a company of lions
The Eagle Knight tracked down and killed the murderer."
"However, this was only the beginning of chaos. With the loss of the supreme imperial power, various principalities were involved in brutal civil war..."
Stories can relieve hunger. As he listened, little Norman's mouth corners slightly raised, and he looked at the sky with his big eyes.
Suddenly, a little monster appeared in the background of the bright starry sky, flapping its wings and smiling strangely at him.
"Damn it! We've been discovered!" Charles condensed a holy light ball and fired it, but it was easily dodged by the little monster flying in the air, "Get out of here!"
Little Norman jumped up with excitement and ran down the hill with Charles.
They walked down the rocky mountain road and came to the woods in the valley.
Bang!
A horned demon jumped in front of the two of them, its sharp claws and drooling fangs made little Norman break into a cold sweat.
The horned demon rushed over suddenly, and the holy light shield in front of Charles was instantly shattered, and he fell to the ground.
Immediately afterwards, two more horned demons jumped down from the cliff. Charles had to inject light magic into his cane to fight against the besieging horned demons.
"Run! Norman!"
"run!"
Norman turned around with a look of horror on his face and walked stiffly.
He cried while running away, and a river of mud washed out of his dirty little face.
His young mind knew very well that he would never hear Charles's story again.
The priest's roar and the demon's roar echoed in the valley behind him.
He stumbled and unconsciously ran to a fast mountain stream.
A group of little monsters flew out from the shadows of the woods, and the sound of metal friction came from their salivating fangs:
"The flesh and blood of children is the most delicious!"
“The most delicious!”
“The most delicious!”
Little Norman was so frightened that his hair stood up.
He backed away bit by bit until one foot stepped into the cold stream, and there was no way out.
Little Norman raised his eyebrows and jumped into the rushing water resolutely.
He was carried by the river, fell from the cracks in the rocks, and was rushed into a small river.
The cold current made Norman's young body gradually lose consciousness, but he still struggled and tried to swim ashore.
no.
Still not working.
At a sharp bend in the river, Norman slammed into a rock.
...
In the southern part of Bucks Principality, an Edelweiss-class battleship floated lightly on the river.
The river here is narrow, and larger boats may not be able to enter.
Captain David stepped onto the bow of the ship. He took out an old Bucks Principality route map and marked the areas along the river that had been explored.
This was the fourteenth day of their journey north into the Bucks Principality.
The stalkers and rangers have already gone out for covert reconnaissance, and the ship is docked in this bay where the water flow is slightly slower, waiting for their return.
The few mechanical creations in the river kept attacking the hull of the ship, making loud noises, but they were unable to break through the defense of the Iron Maiden's biological armor, and their attempts were in vain.
A griffin knight fell from the sky, holding something in his arms. Captain David immediately stepped forward and discovered to his surprise that it was a child!
"Captain David, I found him in a fast-flowing river ahead." The rider jumped down.
David immediately picked up the soaked child and called a dark alchemist on board the ship for emergency treatment.
While the dark elf mage raised a flame in his palm to keep the boy warm, he took out some red alchemical powder from his bag and stuffed it into the child's purple mouth and nose.
Soon, the boy's body temperature gradually rose, his face turned as rosy as if he had drank pepper water, and he choked out a mouthful of water.
"Help...Lord Charles..."
Captain David frowned and called softly: "Little guy, what's your name? How did you fall into the river?"
Norman woke up leisurely, looked at David's face, and said in shock: "I am Norman...who are you?"
"We are a rescue team from the Griffin Principality."
Norman's eyes gradually brightened, and his voice gained more strength: "Are you sent by Emperor Ivan?"
David raised his eyebrows and said, "No, we were sent by Lord Li Ran. Who did you just say you wanted to save?"
...
Old Charles leaned against the big tree, covering the wound on his chest and panting violently.
As the group of little monsters and horned demons gradually approached, he suddenly heard Norman's cheers.
"Lord Charles, I'm back with the Griffin Knights!"
"!?"
Charles was immediately frightened out of his mind. He did not hesitate to sacrifice himself to drag the devil here, wasn't it just to let Norman escape?
Charles looked in the direction of the sound with a sad expression.
A huge green-skinned lizard jumped among the rugged rocks. Little Norman sat in the arms of the dark elf knight, waving his hands to him from a distance.
The green-skinned lizard purred excitedly, walking on flat ground among the rugged mountains.
A howl sounded in the sky, and four griffons swooped past, ripping open the horned demon's chest with their sharp claws.
Six or seven shadows suddenly burst out of the woods nearby, and dark elf stalkers ferociously slaughtered the screaming little monsters.
Captain David came to Charles: "Mr. Charles, are you okay?"
Charles endured the dizziness caused by the depletion of magic power and the pain from the wound, and leaned gently against the tree trunk.
"I'm lucky. As long as I recover some magic power, I can slowly heal myself," Charles panted and looked at the middle-aged man in front of him, "Which camp are you from? I have never heard that there are dark elves in the Bucks Principality.
trace."
"We are the rescue team heading north from the Starwind Territory of the Griffin Principality," David said sternly: "Little Norman helped us rescue you. Do you know any news about other survivor camps?"
"Of course..." Old Charles laughed heartily, "There are also many survivor camps here!"
...
In the swaying cabin, Li Ran sat in front of the dim magic crystal lamp, reading a secret letter sent by Lan Ling.
"The first ten Edelweiss-class battleships have entered the border area between the Buck Principality and the Crow Principality. We have equipped each ship with griffon knights and lizard cavalry. Those green-skinned lizards can travel quickly between rugged mountain cliffs.
, are more suitable for this search and rescue operation than war horses."
"After nearly a month of operations, Huanlong Port has received 312 northern refugees. Grand Consul Mullen has worked with various departments to formulate a detailed refugee resettlement plan."
"According to feedback from the front line, the number of survivors in the occupied areas far exceeds our imagination. The current operation has just begun. It is expected that more and more survivors will be rescued and evacuated to Starwind City in the future."
"Lord Li Ran, your rescue plan has been a complete success. We will continue to send more personnel and ships, and adapt accordingly according to the situation in the occupied northern area. Finally, I hope that the Starwind Fleet and your trip to Hammerfell Town will be safe and smooth.
.——Dewey, the leader of the Griffin Claws Chapter, An Ke, the leader of the Star Wind Shadow, Bolton, the person in charge of the ship command post and the Dragon Calling Harbor Shipyard."
Li Ran was very satisfied with the results of the northward rescue plan. He put the secret letter on the table, turned around and looked out of the porthole.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The cabin shook violently, and the Starwind Fleet launched another salvo. They encountered a new round of enemies.
The broad Ila River was rolling with waves, and a large number of mechanical underwater creatures continued to attack the bottom of the ship. The Griffin anti-submarine formations in the sky roared past, throwing depth bombs into the water.
A huge wave rolled up, and densely packed mechanical remains floated to the surface.
Thanks to the constantly improving Iron Maiden biological armor and the powerful Griffin anti-submarine formation, the underwater machinery caused minimal damage to the ship.
Li Ran shifted his gaze to the river bank, where a large mechanical beast ground force was trying to attack the approaching fleet.
Seventy-two ship-borne ballistae roared in unison, and the mechanical beast was bombarded to pieces before it could reach the river.
After the ground offensive was blocked, a group of flying bionic mechanical creations tried to launch an attack from mid-air.
Li Ran's eyes were filled with anticipation.
Thanks to the efforts of Dragon Calling Harbor Shipyard and Dark Alchemist, all newly produced Blizzard-class frigates have been modified with ship-borne ballistae.
The new model of ship-borne ballistae increases the maximum firing angle to 50°, allowing it to point its head upwards into the sky for close range anti-aircraft shooting.
Explosive crossbow bolts equipped with a delayed fuse can explode a few seconds after being fired. The ship's commander can use continuous air bursts to block a certain airspace through prejudgment.
This is a good opportunity to verify the anti-aircraft performance of the explosive ballista.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Dense bursts of explosive crossbow arrows flew into the sky, instantly creating black explosion clouds.
The flying units of the mechanical tribe seemed to have rushed into the air blast zone on their own, turning into scattered parts one after another, and a mechanical rain fell outside Li Ran's porthole.
As the fighting gradually died down, Li Ran sat in the cabin and remained motionless.
After they entered the area occupied by the mechanical tribe, such a battle would happen once a day.
There is currently no battle that requires Salina, Bai Yue, Tia and the carrier-based troops to participate in the battle at the same time.
Jamil has rich experience in ship command and gryphon knight combat, and has grown into a mature combined fleet commander.
These mundane encounters did not require Li Ran to intervene, Jamil could dispatch the naval gun fire and the Griffin bombing team to deal with them properly.
Six Blizzard-class frigates maintained a column formation on the wide river, raised their huge three-masted sails and slowly accelerated, continuing to sail towards Hammerfell in the southern part of the principality.
Li Ran stayed peacefully in the cabin, enjoying the rare rest time since arriving in the Wolf Principality.
He looked at the messy mechanical corpses outside the porthole and took a sip of steaming black tea.
Here, he does not need to use a camouflage mask to hide his identity. The entire fleet is made up of reliable crew members and warriors from the Starwind Territory. He also does not need to become the "Lord of the Starwind" in front of the nobles and guild leaders in the pioneer area.
Everything in front of you is carefully deceived and planned.
Li Ran's efforts paid off.
Just like a man who has been away on business all year round and returns to his warm home, after boarding the flagship of the Starwind Fleet, he can finally relax his nerves and enjoy the rare tranquility.
The sky outside the porthole window became increasingly gloomy.
The Broken Star Army tore apart the earth, countless mountains and rivers were shattered, and rivers were displaced. Ashan's original ecology and seasons were completely broken, and people had no way of knowing how long a season would last.
This year's late autumn weather has been exceptionally long, indicating that the coming winter will be even more severe.
Li Ran took a sip of hot tea and looked outside again.
A snowflake swirled, flew past the porthole, and melted on the mechanical corpse floating in the river.
This is the first snowflake of the year.
Winter has arrived.
The hunters in the shadows have prepared their furs and shotguns in advance, quietly waiting for the night of wild hunting.